


Diddims

by AwatereJones



Series: Crawlers [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alt Verse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Comedy, Drama, Gen, Horror, Romance, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-17 10:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14830728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwatereJones/pseuds/AwatereJones
Summary: So tempers are starting to fray as they all try to settle into some sort of routine and as per usual Gwen feels the need to push the envelope ... Ianto doesn't like being rubbed the wrong way as any kitty doesn't, Gwen ruffles feathers like a total dingbat and Jack becomes a shark preparing to chomp down...true colours can be animaistic yes? Oh...and Crypto is still deciding





	1. Chapter 1

Gwen sat with a face of total disgust, staring at Owen and Tosh as he held her chair, helped her with her food and then filled her glass, his glee obvious as he animatedly told her about his plans for the old windmill out back. The previous day had been productive and they seemed to have settled to tasks.

Ianto watched as one by one everyone else noticed and the table fell silent as Owen looked up with surprise at the sudden stillness around them and Tosh looked directly as Gwen who sneered, "Finished your lovefest? Can us normal folk eat now?"

"Gwen, there is no need…" Rhys started to scold but Jack was already rising from his chair to defend Tosh.

"If you have a problem with my team members tell me now Ms Cooper or keep your problems to your fucking self" Jack snarled as he leaned over the table, Ianto's look of alarm feeding his anger, "This is not your show, do you not get that yet? You are not the head honcho, not the queen bee. Right now, right here let's sort this shit out eh?"

The room had become silent.

" **About time"**

Ianto rolled his eyes and frowned at the creature who looked unrepentant.

"Crypto, perhaps you could take Mica upstairs to wash up then she might show you her mean reading skills" Ianto said calmly and the little girl showed her uncle's blood as she snorted.

"Then I'll miss everything" she pointed out.

"Mimi!" Ianto warned, "We are gonna have a Grup argument with nastiness and you know I don't like you upset because you will think we are hurting one another with our words."

"But you will be" she huffed, then looked at Crypto, "Come on. You can tell me what they say anyhow."

"Oi!" Ianto spluttered sounding like Owen as the child and her shadow departed "Cheeky little….shit. Did you hear that?"

"No doubt she's yours" Jack smiled affectionately as he watched the door close, then his face changed as he swung back to regard Gwen, "Well? Say it."

Gwen looked horrified. Then she glanced at Suzie and took a breath "She has just lost her mother and I think a female influence is best. Her father was obviously a tosser and do you really think two men who are still fumbling about with one another can really give her what she needs?"

Rhys went to speak but Ianto raised his hand, wanting to respond himself "I was there when she was born. I held her before her mother even did, I birthed her. I named her, I loved her first. I love her always. I have been in her life always. Every weekend footy match her brother was in, every dance recital she was in, each school gala or horrible play, I was there cheering in the front. She knows me, knows I love her and she knows I will die to defend her. I will also kill to defend her without a second thought."

Jack leaned back as he let those words linger, then he added, "I think you need to remember that he is the one who went for her, risked everything for her just now. Do you honestly think he will just hand her over to someone who clearly lacks the values of his family?"

Gwen blinked and Tosh spoke softly, "I will also defend. I have feelings for Owen and wish to explore them, so does he. You have Rhys, a mighty fine man who seems to not only accept you for your yourself, he also is ready to defend you, his fist on the table evidence of that. Think about it Gwen, this is not a normal situation, not a normal world and if push comes to shove I will cut you lose rather than chance losing Owen. You can keep looking to Suzie for back-up all you like, she will not step behind you. She is Torchwood and as long as you keep drawing a line, we will all stand together on this side."

"She's right. She might not hit but I do and believe me, you threaten anyone in my team and I will put you on your arse." Suzie agreed.

"Let's all take a breath" Ianto asked "We are all emotionally charged, it's not even a week since it all went to shit and we are all on edge and shocky. Let's….let's take a break for a moment from this. We are all hurting, all lost people and tearing one another apart will not help that now. This is all we have, these people in this building are all there is left. Left to trust. Anyone else? Might want to harm, kill, take. Right now we take a knee, we breathe and we assess ourselves. Stop looking at each other and look at yourself. Is this who you are? Who you want to be? Moving forward you need to be the person you want others to see, to know and trust. Love. Moving forward there can be no more lies or hiding. Not even a week. How will we survive a month? A year? Can we if this is our only means of communication?"

"He's right" Andy finally spoke, "we can't be a unit if we are not on the same wave length."

Ianto glanced at Jack as he wondered if Gwen even had one.


	2. neat little titles? always an archivist

Gwen rose to leave and Rhys cleared his throat, "No. Sit down. We will sort this here and now."

She glared at him but resumed her seat as Rhys looked around the table and asked, "If she pulls her head out of her arse can you all give her a chance? Gwen has this habit of flaring up when stressed. She doesn't mean to be a bitch, it's like a default."

"Rhys" Gwen spluttered but he waved his hand at her.

"No. I'm talking here missus" he growled, "the amount of times I almost walked out, left her, ya know? Only child, her Daddy's little girl was a spoilt little princess and she can stomp her feet and blow out her cheeks like a right madam but underneath it all she is honestly a good person. Please, like Ianto said, not even a week since it all went to hell and we all need a blow out. We are all so…twisted up. Not a time for mourning, tears and regret. We've been pushing forward to survive and until we can sort out the feelings we are swallowing down we will keep sparking off each other."

"Rhys is right" Ianto nodded, "We are all tired, cranky and seeing the worst of one another. Maybe now we have some semblance of a routine we can take a day to just…be in our own heads. We need to grieve, get our heads around things."

"Maybe a day of reflection today and then tonight we can have a little service of sorts? Something symbolic? I don't know how you all choose to but…when I was young my father and brother were killed and my mother and I had a burning. We each wrote something on a piece of paper, a memory or feeling and then we sat and fed those scraps of paper to the flames in the hopes the smoke might carry them up to the heavens so they would know we mourned their passing." Jack suggested, "Today we will spend the day quietly doing our chores and taking time to write our messages, build the bonfire out back where it will not be visible from the road. Then tonight we give our offerings and hopefully feel some peace from it. Tonight we all go to bed and hold who we have, or we remember those we will never hold again."

"I have some paper, I will cut it into strips to make it easier. Leave it on the hall side table with pens" Ianto nodded, "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Maybe we will eat out there, enjoy some silence. The fences will all be up by then so nothing will surprise us and we will be well lit by the fire to see what we need to do."

"I need one more spool of wire to run a second bottom row since…what we saw" Owen grimaced and Ianto nodded.

"There were three or four rolls of chicken wire at the other place, we could run that around the fences, nothing can get in then. We run it right around the homestead fences, make this place secure. Only way in or out will be the front gate." Ianto offered, "Maybe we can go this avo after lunch and get them, take the buggy."

"Cool" Owen perked up, "Ya know, we could run that around the perimeter and still have time for a wee dip in the river."

"You and your water" Ianto nodded, "As long as it's in undies, I do not want the vision of you in the nuddy, honestly man that image is not one to take to my grave."

"Shock. Hurt even" Owen said with fake horror, "you know, I am quite nicely proportioned."

"Have you seen your Captain?" Ianto asked and Owen frowned as he nodded with a slump of his shoulders. "Well…that's the only neekid man I want in this mind ta."

Owen perked up, "So...scared I might be competition?"

Ianto laughed softly as he shook his head and rose from the table, Jack rising as well, "I'll come with. Maybe she can read to me while you change."

Ianto blushed as everyone knew they were sharing a bed and then he nodded and shot from the room, Jack turning to eyeball them all before following him up.

He found Ianto changing his shoes for some sturdy boots as he told Micha that he and Owen were going to measure the perimeter before leaving after lunch.

"Can I come?" she asked with interest.

"You can help with the measuring but not when we go for the wire" Ianto said gently, "I need you to stay here and make sure the gate stays shut until we get back, I can't trust just anyone to protect the sheep."

She looked at him long and hard, then nodded, "Do I get a gun?"

Jack stifled laughter behind a cough, then knelt to address her, "You know, there are some walkie-talkies down there, you can tell us how things are here while we are gone."

Ianto hid his surprise at learning Jack was tagging along and glanced at Micha again as he told himself she would be fine with Suzie and Tosh.

It wasn't until he was halfway down the stairs he realised he hadn't included Gwen in the motherly role.


	3. boo

Owen did the stride thing, loudly counting as he went and Ianto silently walked behind him with a wheel on a stick counting the rotations of the white mark on the tyre in his head. Ianto knew they would get two different measurements but didn't care, he let Owen have his moment to be the one in charge. Seems the wee man needed it.

They settled back at the house for lunch and Micha had indeed found the walkie-talkies, playing with Andy who seemed to be a bit of a big kid himself. Ianto now felt better about leaving her, the afternoon going to be full of wire.

"Uncle? Can you look for flowers for me?" she called over the table and he realised he had been wool gathering, looking at his now cold food before rising his head to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Flowers. Can you pick some flowers? The ones here are all goat eaten" she frowned and Ianto smiled as he nodded, pushing his plate back.

"Yes love, if I see any they are coming home for you" he promised with affection, then he glanced at Owen, "ready?"

"We gonna take a snack?" Owen asked, Rhys already pointing at a basket, "Ahhhh….wonderful man."

Ianto walked out to the four wheeler and the empty trailer behind it, Owen clambering onto the trailer to sit cradling the basket like a child, "Tally ho!"

Ianto turned to Jack who was already laughing, "Is he always a twat?"

"But he is our twat" Jack spluttered, Ianto walking around to climb into the jump seat and Jack fired it up, careening out of the yard, Micha and Suzie at the gates to close them once they were through and Ianto glanced back to see Owen laughing as he enjoyed the ride, Micha already running for the barn and Tosh who was waving from the doors as Suzie followed sedately. Then something went through his head.

"Owen? The little biter. Not where she will find it, yeah?" he called.

"Nah, in the tack room" Owen yelled back, "Door has that high bolt. The little one can't even see the cage from the window"

Ianto nodded, then wondered how long Owen planned on keeping it, the thought of one so close unnerving even if it was fully contained.

"It's started to mutate" Owen said suddenly as they slowed for a bend, "On all fours now."

Ianto turned to face Owen, his back to the road as Jack expertly drove, "How long before it mutates again do you think? Is it possible the process is retarded due to time? Like…those closer to the event might have turned quicker and as it spread it slowed…like a lesser strain?"

"Might account for it" Owen agreed, "The further from the event, the less severe the effects at first. It also means there might be more out there we've not seen yet, if they are turning at different rates."

"Also it might mutate again" Jack said as he brought the vehicle to a halt, "we have no idea what they look like at the epicentre."

"Wouldn't want to" Ianto grimaced.

"Wish I had a drone" Owen sighed again.

"We could go get one at the town shop" Ianto said with surprise that they hadn't thought of it before, "If we want to run the gauntlet of a town full of crawlers. It might have lots of good things at the local corner store."

"It has one?" Owen said.

"I remember a remote control chopper last time I was in there was gonna get it for David, also…they sold food and supplies. Might be a good place to pillage if it hasn't been already." Ianto said and Jack sat back with his hands on his thighs.

"You know, that is a good idea. Might be good to see some up close" Jack said as he considered, "But we think about that tomorrow, today is not for plans, it's about preparing for a night of the feels and things."

"Suzie will be up for it…the town not the feels" Owen said with glee, "how far is it?"

"An hour's drive" Ianto said after considering, "We take an hour to pillage and then another hour back."

"Add another half hour to ogle" Owen supplied, "I will want to make faces and noises at them."

"Owen…"

Jack started to laugh as Ianto flared up and then he realised Owen was baiting him, "You cheeky bastard."

"You know, you are a soft bastard at twat" Owen grinned.

**"And you are simply soft"**

Owen squawked as Crypto moved from the back of the trailer and Owen saw him for the first time, "Fucking hell, where the fuck were you?"

"He was there the whole time" Ianto laughed softly, "He was just being invisible."

"What?"

"Shielding." Jack said as he stood and face Owen, "Crypto can use his chameleon ways to mimic his surroundings and disappear. Literally. Why I didn't see Ianto in the ditch."

Owen stared at Crypto and grinned.

"Cool"


	4. Roll with it

Five rolls, Ianto calculated in his head as Owen argued with Jack that he really, really needed the scythe hanging on the wall and Ianto sighed as he cut into the talk, "I need the one behind the tractor."

"We have enough" Owen said, then swung back to Jack. "Like death, I can be scary if I can cut up the black table cloth. No? …..ah…..Like…a scarecrow then? I can make one? Jack?"

Ianto rolled his eyes and walked over to seize the roll of chicken wire, yanking at it himself. Then Jack was there, lifting it and carrying it as Owen frowned, "Look, I said we don't need it."

"Ianto wants it, Ianto gets it" Jack said calmly.

"Favouritism"

"Yeah, makes the world go round" Jack replied jauntily and Owen snorted, then looked around, "Now where the hell are they?"

They walked around the shed to find Ianto picking flowers as he spoke softly to Crypto about Mica, the scrape of nails making them all look up as it approached.

"Shit" Owen said softly.

Ianto remained on the ground with his hands full of flowers as Jack raised the Webley and they all jumped as it barked. Its shoulder swung back and it continued to advance.

"For fucksake man, the head" Owen said with his arms flailing, "All zombie movies tell you to shoot them in the head!"

Jack did.

It fell.

"Happy now?" Jack asked.

"Yep, box of fluffies me!" Owen grinned then turned to the remains of the house. "Man, this sure did burn."

"Overkill" Ianto admitted, "I was too tired to dig graves and thought it was still a possible contagion site so I burned it with the bodies inside."

"Lucky you didn't burn the outbuildings" Owen pointed out and Ianto shrugged.

"Didn't really care at the time" Ianto sighed, "I was tired, hungry and still in shock."

"Well, it did a good job." Owen pointed out, "What you call a cleansing."

"Owen…Gwen…am I just being prickly?" Ianto asked as they watched Jack stalk the body and poke at it gingerly with his foot.

"Nah. She gives me the utters too" Owen agreed guessing what he meant, "Grief is a funny thing. We all react differently, I am hopeful that given the fact she has a nice bloke that she isn't always a cow."

"Me too"

The two men took a moment to grin at one another … bonding and all that.

Then Crypto made a soft chuffing noise and Ianto turned to see what he was looking at. It was another one, ambling along.

"Look at that" Owen said and Jack rose from the one he had been poking to look, they all stood and watched it calmly move past. It didn't look at them, attack or even seem to be aware that they were there then Owen sneezed.

It was am immediate reaction that shocked them, the person dropping to all fours and coming at them with speed they had not seen before, Jack firing at it and cursing as its weird gait made it difficult to hit the head until it was closer.

"Get behind me" he yelled as he took a shooter's stance and aimed carefully, Ianto and Owen moving back as Crypto leapt into the trailer amongst the wire. Smart fellow.

The Webley fired again and Ianto grabbed up a garden stake, flinging it at the thing and it speared it in the shoulder pining it to the ground with a sickening thud.

"Good shot!" Owen crowed and they approached, looking at the thing as it slathered at them, snapping and making weird noises of rage.

Bang

It slumped on the ground, the spear still holding it slightly at an angle.

"Yuck" Ianto grimaced.

"You know something, you are a bloody natural born zombie killer" Owen said as he slapped Ianto's shudder and Ianto made a noise as he swung to face him, his snarl making Jack leap between them with a shout of surprise.

"Hey."

Ianto slumped into Jack's arms and clung to him, wanting the entire world just to crumble away as Jack held him and soothingly rubbed his back.

"Shit. Sorry mate, come on. Let's go sit down yeah?" Owen said as they went over to the trailer and Crypto emerged to check if they were OK. "Oh yeah, we are fine thanks for remembering us."

Crypto laughed.

"OK?" Jack asked and Ianto nodded.

"Sorry Owen, I just…Lisa ya know?"

"Shit" Owen felt like a total utter wanker now and he slumped against the trailer as he tried to think how it would have felt if it were Katie, but Tosh muddied the thought and he found himself thinking about her, the horror more real. "Shit."

"You know, that word grates after a while" Ianto said as he sat in the jump seat, "Please stop it."

"Sorry, my default word" Owen said as he sat on the trailer with Crypto, "You know I like you, right? I am a twat, it's also a default thing."

"It's OK Owen, I like you too" Ianto smiled as he forgave him.

" **He is growing on me"**

Owen frowned as he tried to work out if Crypto was paying him a compliment or taking the piss.

Teeth glowed in the grin like a nuclear reactive Cheshire cat.

Taking the piss then.

Bastard.


	5. zap

They got home triumphant and half expecting to find Bitchfest Part II in session but to their surprise everything seemed fine, Mica in the garden with Tosh harvesting carrots as Suzie stood guard at the gate, "Did a perimeter sweep fifteen minutes ago, nothing moving."

"Good girl" Jack said happily, "We string this around the fences and nothing can surprise us. They don't climb so…that's all she wrote. I suggest we get to….what's she doing?"

They turned to watch Gwen as she stalked across the grass to the boundary fence then hung something on it before going back in and Ianto turned to Crypto who was already going to investigate and Ianto huffed softly as he listened to the creature "He says she is hanging perfumed sachets. Like…poesies. Is she mad? Does she think that will keep them away?"

"No" Jack sighed, "She thinks it will ward off the illness. Shit."

Ianto felt the blood draining from his body as he looked at Jack, "Are you telling me she isn't immune?"

"Well, it makes sense. She is being shifty, trying to cause arguments so we are focusing on one another…shit. Owen leaving almost sent her into a tizz" Suzie looked at Jack, "Do you think we have a window or is she already on the turn?"

"She hasn't yet, why not?" Ianto drowned, then looked at Owen, "Hormones? Is she cycling or something? Could hormones affect it?"

"Ah shit" Owen slumped, "You have got to be shitting me."

"Well, one way to find out" Suzie said as she headed of the house and Ianto blinked as Jack swore, running after her.

"Owen if she is still intact can you get her appendix out?" Into asked "And what if it's too late?"

"Don't know mate" Owen shrugged, "This is a strange new world, let's hope Suzie is about to make a dick of herself and nothing more, yeah?"

They headed in and found an argument in progress "I am telling you, look. I have the scar!"

Gwen lifted her top to show the white slash on her skin, "Seriously! I had polyps or whatever they are called."

"Polyps?" Owen asked, "Wait…wait it a full removal or partial? You know if they remove polyps once upon a time they cut away the area affected, not the entire thing."

Gwen stared at him as Tosh worked, muttering away as she tried to find Gwen's medical records then she called out, "She's right. Polyps."

"Show me!" Owen demanded as he leaned in and looked at the screen, then swore, "Told ya. She still has a portion."

Gwen looked between them, "what does that mean?"

"No idea" Owen said as he looked at her, "You have some in there, it was listed as a disection not a removal so …that means about 50% is still there."

"Does it mean she will turn?" Andy asked with concern.

"If she was going to, I would say she would have by now" Ianto offered his opinion, "Maybe it is slower acting…if you remove the rest of it…there might be time? Right? Owen?"

Gwen was clasping at Rhys as he looked at the doctor, "So? Owen? Can you take this bit left behind away?"

Owen frowned, "The singularity scalpel might do it"

"Owen!" Jack growled but Owen waved his hand, "Practice quickly."

"Right" Owen shot out to the SUV as Ianto looked at Jack, the unspoken knowledge that Owen was about to do something as risky as keeping Gwen intact.

Ianto had read the reports on Yvonne's deak form T3, knew damned well Owen had no idea what he was doing.

They decided to make the small side room that had been used like an office as the medical room, Suzie looking around as she gauged it and saw room for a bed if they pulled out the desk. Ianto grimaced but helped pull his Grandy's big desk from the room and out onto the back porch where he hoped it would remain dry then they set up a single bed.

"I could totally sleep in here" Suzie said after a while and Ianto nodded, still trying to get used to the change in the one room he had hoped to keep.

"Come on, get up here" Owen patted the makeshift bed and Gwen lay down as Owen started to fiddle with a weird contraction, "Right, don't breathe."

"What?" Gwen squeaked as Owen hummed then there was a weird pop noise and she yelled, slapping at her stomach as she rolled up in a ball with pain.

"What the fuck did you do!" Rhys roared.

"Saved her" Owen said smugly, "You could say thanks."

"Owen!" Jack warned "Stop it."

"Right, let me check I got it all" Owen said and Gwen barked with alarm as she shuffled along the bed away from him.

"Fuck off, you don't get near me with that again!" she roared and Rhys looked at Jack.

"Owen, check the recording, come on" Jack asked and Owen shrugged as he plonked on the sofa out in the main room to look over things, Suzie looking at Gwen as she sat hunched over on the bed panting.

"Well? Are you done? I want my room"


	6. priorities

Suzie was happy in her new room an Ianto took a moment to head out and check the desk, then he found a tarp in the shed to cover it…hesitating as he glanced at the tack room and he wondered how the little crawler was going so he walked over and peered through the door, seeing nothing then he remembered them saying they had made sure Mica would not be able to see it.

He reached up for the bolt and gently opened the door then stared at the empty cage.

Fuck.

Ianto looked around the barn and then moved to the outside where they were all putting the wire up, walking briskly over to Owen, "Where is she?"

"Still whinging with Rhya in the kitchen" he said without looking up.

"No…the little crawler"

Owen stopped, looking up at Ianto then his face changed and he ran for the barn, slaming into the room to stare at the empty cage.

"SUZIE"

Owen stormed towards the house with total rage, "You put her down without me? Where the fuck is the body you …."

Owne disappeared into the house and Ianto groaned, looking now for another grave somewhere. He really hated these things being buried here, it gave him the hebbiejeebies to think there were things in his…well. Not his. Ianto sighed as he sat on the edge of the gaden.

"Ianto?"

Ianto looked up as Jack settled next to him, "Hey. What's up?"

"The little crawler…I knew her when she was a child. I was there at her christening, her first Christmas. I remember the first time she saw snow…I was there for all of that. And to think while we were out Suzie just put a bullet in her head…I ….maybe I would have liked to have been there for that too." Ianto stopped talking, rubbing his face, "Sorry. So much has happened."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know she was gone. I thought Owen had more tests to run" Jack looked at the barn wih a frown.

"Probably why he's yelling in there now" Ianto sighed, then the door swung open and Suzie came runnig out followed by the rest, their faces full of something he didn't want to see.

Fear.

"Aw shit, don't tell me she escaped" Ianto groaned then he felt tendrils of fear as he rose and looked around "Jack…where's Mimi?"

Jack paled starting to move in a slow circle as he looked and then swore, pointing up at the roof of the barn where the little girl was sitting looking out over the fields.

"Oh thank the gods" Ianto sobbed as he ran for the barn, Jack on his heels and they clambered into the loft then out the large window to walk along the roof.

"Mimi?" Ianto called softly, not wanting to startle her, "Baby? Whatcha doing?"

"I was looking for the river" she said as she turned to face them, her little face angelic and innocent, "Is it deep enough to swim?"

"In summer, you know..that one day a year the sun shines" Ianto joked nervously and she laughed as she rose and walked to meet him.

"Uncle?"

"Yes love?"

"Is Da and David really gone? Aunty Gwen said they were burned up in a bomb thing that was meant to kill the biters" she said with her bottom lip temblng, "she sez the whole of London and stuff just burned away and Cardiff too."

Ianto felt the sting of anger, pulling her into a hug, "Hey, there was an accident with the nuclear power plant and it did explode. That was the fire we could see, do you remember seeing a fire in the sky at camp?"

"Mama said it was bad" Mica nodded, rubbing her eyes, "Mama cried and said it was a bad thing. Was that Da and David dying?"

"Yes love, the gods lit the sky to help them find the way to the heavens" Ianto swallowed as he lied to the child and Jack knelt to console them both, looking over their bent heads as Suzie stalked the veggie patch down below. "All that matters is right here, right now. Your family is right here."

The crawler was there, moving along the ground like it's back was broken, only the front half with mobility as it dragged itsef along, emaciated and looking like some sort if skeleton covered with leathery hide, hair long gone and grosse. Jack tightened his grip and whispered to Ianto, "Don't turn around, don't let her see."

Ianto knew immediately what was happening and he cuddled against Jack singing a welsh lullaby, encouraging Mica as well and they huddled there on the roof as Suzie lifted the garden stake from the runner beans and cleaved the thing's skull.

Jack held them long after the thing had been dragged away by Owen and Suzie as Gwen stood watching silently.

Jack felt his blood boiling as he stared down at her, knowing exactly who was to blame for all of this.

Ianto had been right.

All that matters is right here.

Jack was holding his family in his arms.


	7. Explain youself

"I have no idea how it got out" Gwen defended, "Maybe the girl did it. If I had been allowed to watch her I can tell you now she would have been better controlled than…"

"If you speak of Mica like she is a bloody dog one more time I will tie you out front as bait" Jack snarled, "We all know one of us must have let it out, she is too small to reach the dead bolt at the top of the door. Owen and Ianto were with me, Suzie was on patrol and clearly visible on the cameras, Andy and Rhys were killing chickens and plucking them for the meal and can vouch for one another….you gonna tell me Tosh did it?"

The room was silent as Ianto settled in a chair, Crypto upstairs with the child who was now colouring happily, her earlier worry about her dead father and brother gone as children tend to let things go.

"I…well…how do you know the last person didn't just forgot to bolt it?" she asked with a pout.

"Me and Tosh visited it this morning and took it water that it didn't want" Owen snarled, "Tosh? Did I bolt the door?"

"Yes Owen, you did" Tosh said in a low snarl, her hackles definitely raised.

"Look, just tell us why you released it" Ianto said softly, "I just don't understand when you knew it would be trapped in here with us. If it was because you were sorry for it, why not drag the cage to the perimeter fence and let it go so it was outside? You let it go inside the very area we were fencing off. Did it not occur to you it would have nowhere to go except towards the house? Mimi? Us?"

Gwen flapped her hands as she started to cry again.

"Gwen?" Rhys sighed, "Come on. Did you see it? Did you even see what it was"

She nodded, "It was…not a little girl. Not a child … I thought it would be…not that."

"So, you thought it might be a little girl like Mica and you would … save it? It shocked you and you ran?" Ianto surmised, "Jesus wept. Gwen… you have some serious issues. I am sorry you lost your daughter but… no other can replace her. OK? Your beautiful, perfect little princess that never made it… no other little girl can ever be as special. You need to accept that and stop trying to find one to fill the void."

She looked around with worry then sighed as she threw up her hands, "You don't know how it feels to lose a child!"

"So stop making it happen" Ianto roared, calm gone, "Christ alive woman, you almost cost me Mica. You think taking another child's life makes up for your own? Really? Let's kill all the children and we can all feel better. Wanna piss on some graves? Yeah? I loved me sister, me nephew. I will defend the last piece of her I have."

"Ianto" Jack pulled him in, trying to calm him and he was horrified to feel the shaking, "Easy love Hey."

"I can't do this" Ianto sobbed softly, "I just…I can't do this. She's…I mean… I thought killing Lisa was the worst thing I would have to do but … Rhiannon laying there in the water and… she hated begin wet…hated the cold…my sister…my lovely sister and Lisa and … David… it's too much."

"Easy now" Jack crooned, "I am taking Ianto upstairs so we can sit with the only person in the entire mess who should have been safe, not out there with that thing loose."

Jack led Ianto up the stairs and the sound of flesh hitting flesh had him glancing back in time to see Suzie shaking her hand from the sting.

Good girl.

Jack trained her right.

,

,

,

,

So ends Diddims. Gwen is lucky Jack didn't shoot her, I know. But I still have plans for that one ya know. Next instalment will be called House Rules. Ianto is about to roar. And yes, I know some of you are desperate for the boys to finally bond ... it is coming.


End file.
